Mobile device protocol health monitoring system

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for use in a mobile device telemetry system is disclosed. The method and apparatus relate to aspects in a mobile device protocol health monitoring system. The method and apparatus provide a system to monitor and assess protocol health, log protocol health data and communicate the logs of protocol health data to a remote system. The system may also take corrective actions based upon specific indications of protocol health. The method and apparatus also provides protocol health indications and corrective actions based upon monitoring the message transmission rate. The method and apparatus also provides protocol health indications and corrective actions based upon monitoring for a line disconnect.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus formonitoring the protocol health of a communication messaging system. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to monitoring the protocolhealth of a mobile device network associated with a mobile device suchas a vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Monitoring systems with capabilities to monitor the protocol health ofmobile device networks, for example vehicle networks, are known in theprior art. Monitoring systems that provide useful protocol healthinformation are also known in the prior art.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,213,321 B2 issued on Jul. 3, 2012 to Butts and Andersonand is assigned to Deere & Company. This patent relates to a method andsystem to monitor a communications network such as a controller areanetwork (CAN) and more specifically, an in-vehicle communicationsnetwork, by maintaining a count of each type of error code and ahistogram of all network messages seen by each of the controllers duringa measurement period; and by determining a bus health index of thecommunication bus based upon a percentage of a given type of error tothe total count of all errors during a measurement period. An individualcontroller or controller area network bus segment can be indicated ashaving a communications problem because of the health index.

United States PCT patent application US2012/053725 published on Mar. 13,2014 to Zhang et al. and is assigned to GM Global Technology OperationsLLC. This patent application relates to a controller area network (CAN)that has a plurality of CAN elements including a communication bus andcontrollers. A method for monitoring the controller area network CANincludes identifying active and inactive controllers based upon signalcommunications of the communication bus and identifying a candidatefault associated with one of the CAN elements based upon the identifiedinactive controllers.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,799,738 B2 issued on Aug. 5, 2014 to Emde et al., and isassigned to Robert Bosch GmbH. This patent relates to a method ofdetecting data transmission errors in a CAN controller includinggenerating at least one check bit that is verifiable for ensuring theconsistency of the transmitted data. A CAN controller that ensurescontinuous error monitoring during data transmission includes aninterface unit for exchanging data with a CAN bus, a memory unit forstoring received data and data to be transmitted, and an electronic unitfor controlling data transmission between the memory unit and theinterface unit. The interface unit of the CAN controller has anarrangement for generating check bits for received data and forverifying check bits for data to be transmitted.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,795,941 B2 issued on Sep. 21, 2004 to Nickels and isassigned to Honeywell International Inc. This patent relates to anetwork having at least one controllable CAN-based sensor device havinga microcontroller, a power source and at least one host controller.Preferably, the network is a Smart Distributed System-based network. Inthis embodiment, each microcontroller communicates with the controller,generating and storing a value in at least one counter when a successfulmessage is transmitted to the controller. When a unsuccessful message isdetected by the microcontroller, a counter generates and stores a secondor decremented value in the same or different counter. When the sumtotal value of error messages in the counter reaches a marginal criticalvalue, a message is transmitted to the controller while maintaining themicrocontroller's communication with the network. When a counter reachesa critical value, the microcontroller enters a bus off mode anddisconnects the sensor device, and thus the microcontroller, from thenetwork.

The prior art approaches and in particular the approaches to monitoringthe protocol health of vehicle controller area networks and providinguseful protocol health information are deficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to aspects in a mobile device protocolhealth monitoring system. The present invention provides a system tomonitor protocol health, log protocol health data and communicate thelogs of protocol health data to a remote system. The system may alsotake corrective actions based upon specific indications of protocolhealth. The present invention also provides protocol health indicationsand corrective actions based upon monitoring and assessing the messagetransmission rate. The present invention also provides protocol healthindications and corrective actions based upon monitoring and assessingfor a line disconnect.

According to a first broad aspect of the invention, there is a method ofmonitoring protocol health in a mobile device network. The methodcomprises selecting at least one of a message transmission ratemonitoring process or a line disconnect monitoring process, monitoringthe protocol health based upon the selecting at least one of messagetransmission rate monitoring process or line disconnect monitoringprocess and creating a protocol health log.

The method may further comprise when monitoring the protocol healthbased upon the selecting at least one of a message transmission ratemonitoring process or a line disconnect monitoring process, providing anindication to unacceptable protocol health and providing at least onecorrective action to a device communicating with the mobile devicenetwork.

Providing at least one corrective action either disconnects the deviceconnected to the mobile network or sets the device to a safe mode.

The method may further comprise communicating the protocol health log toa remote system, the remote system receiving the protocol health log andthe remote system assessing and displaying an indication of protocolhealth.

The indication of protocol health includes at least one of a goodprotocol health, a poor protocol health, a better protocol health, anincreasing protocol health, a decreasing protocol health, an acceptableprotocol health, an unacceptable protocol health or a severe protocolhealth.

The message transmission rate monitoring process may further include aninitialization process. The initialization process may include adetermination of all mobile device network protocols available andselecting an initial address to monitor for each available mobile devicenetwork protocol. The initialization process may further include anactivation window for the mobile device network to stabilize afteractivation.

The message transmission rate monitoring process may include a messagetransmission rate threshold determination process. The messagetransmission rate threshold determination process may further includemonitoring a message transmission rate associated with a selectedaddress, if the message transmission rate is below a lock threshold,select another address and monitor the message transmission rateassociated with the select another address, if the data transmissionrate is at or above the lock threshold, lock the address and establish amaximum transmission rate threshold. The lock threshold may be set for aslow protocol or the lock threshold may be set for a fast protocol. Inan embodiment of the invention the lock threshold for a slow protocol is10 messages per second. In an embodiment of the invention, the lockthreshold for a fast protocol is 50 messages per second.

The transmission rate monitoring process may further include monitoringa message transmission rate associated with a lock address on the mobiledevice network, comparing a range of the message transmission rate to amaximum message transmission rate threshold and logging a protocolhealth indication when the transmission rate is within the range. Therange may be a first threshold indicating a notify indication. In anembodiment of the invention, the first threshold is between 51% and 60%of the maximum transmission rate threshold. The range may also be asecond threshold indicating a warning indication. In an embodiment ofthe invention, the second threshold is between 40% and 50% of themaximum transmission rate threshold. The range may also be a thirdthreshold indicating a severe indication. In an embodiment of theinvention, the third threshold is less than 40% of the maximumtransmission rate threshold. If a severe indication is determined beyonda severe indication threshold, then provide a corrective action to adevice. In an embodiment of the invention, the severe indicationthreshold is a multiple occurrence of the severe indication greater than50 times.

The line disconnect monitoring process further comprises a first processfor monitoring the mobile device network and resetting an oscillatingerror indicator when a message is received. The line disconnectmonitoring process may also further comprise a second process formonitoring a mobile device error indicator and incrementing anoscillating indicator upon detecting when the mobile device networkerror indicator reaches an error threshold. The line disconnectmonitoring process may further comprise monitoring a mobile devicenetwork error indicator and incrementing an oscillating error indicatorupon detecting when the mobile device network error indicator oscillatesbelow the error threshold. The line disconnect monitoring process mayfurther comprise setting a communication safe mode if the oscillatingindicator has reached a maximum oscillation threshold. In an embodimentof the invention, the error threshold is 128. In an embodiment of theinvention, the maximum oscillation threshold is 10.

The protocol health log may include protocol health data. The protocolhealth log may also include at least one of message transmission ratedata, maximum transmission rate data, number of oscillations or maximumnumber of oscillations. The protocol health log may also includeprotocol health indications. Protocol health indications may include atleast one of notify, warning and severe.

The initial address and the address to monitor are a high priorityaddress. Corrective action is at least one of an electronic disconnector physical disconnect or safe mode of operation for the device.

In another broad aspect of the invention, there is a method ofmonitoring protocol health in a mobile device network. The methodcomprises monitoring a message transmission rate associated with a lockaddress on the mobile device network, comparing a range of thetransmission rate to at least one maximum transmission rate thresholdand logging a protocol health condition when the transmission rate iswithin the range.

In another broad aspect of the invention, there is a method ofmonitoring protocol health in a mobile device network. The methodcomprises a first process and a second process. The first processmonitoring the mobile device network and resetting an oscillating errorindicator when a message is received. The second process monitoring amobile device network error indicator, incrementing an oscillating errorindicator upon detecting when the mobile device network error indicatorreaches a maximum error threshold, incrementing an oscillating indicatorupon detecting when the mobile device network error indicator oscillatesbelow an error threshold and setting a safe mode if the oscillatingindicator has reached a maximum oscillation threshold. In an embodimentof the invention, the maximum error threshold is 128. In an embodimentof the invention, the maximum oscillation threshold is 10.

These and other aspects and features of non-limiting embodiments areapparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the followingdetailed description of the non-limiting embodiments and theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary non-limiting embodiments of the present invention aredescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a high level diagrammatic view of a mobile device telematicscommunication system;

FIG. 2 is diagrammatic view of an mobile telemetry hardware systemincluding an on-board portion and a resident mobile portion;

FIG. 3 illustrates system logic associated with a mobile device forprotocol health monitoring;

FIG. 4 illustrates system logic associated with a remote system forprotocol health monitoring;

FIG. 5 illustrates the logic associated with a mobile device forprotocol health initialization process when monitoring messagetransmission rates;

FIG. 6 illustrates the logic associated with a mobile device forprotocol health message transmission rate monitoring process;

FIG. 7 illustrates the logic for a process associated with a mobiledevice for protocol health line disconnect monitoring; and

FIG. 8 illustrates the logic for another process associated with amobile device for protocol health line disconnect monitoring.

The drawings are not necessarily to scale and may be diagrammaticrepresentations of the exemplary non-limiting embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Telematics Communication System

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated a high leveloverview of a telematics communication system. There is at least onemobile device, for example, a vehicle generally indicated at 11. Personsskilled in the art will appreciate other types of mobile devices arewithin the scope of the invention. The mobile device 11 includes atelemetry hardware system 30 and optionally a resident portion 42.

The telematics communication system provides communication and exchangeof data, logs of monitored data, protocol health data, information,commands, and messages between components in the system such as at leastone server 19, at least one computing device 20 and at least one mobiledevice 11. The computing device 20 may be a desktop device or furtherinclude other hand held devices or wearable devices.

In one example, the communication 12 is to/from a satellite 13. Themobile device 11 communicates with the satellite 13 that communicateswith a ground-based station 15 that communicates with a computer network18. In an embodiment of the invention, the mobile telemetry hardwaresystem 30 and the remote system 44 (FIG. 1 and FIG. 2) facilitatescommunication 12 to/from the satellite 13. An example mobile telemetryhardware system 30 is the GEOTAB™ vehicle-tracking device (GO™).

In another example, the communication 16 is to/from a cellular network17. The mobile device 11, and server 19 or computing device 20 connectedto a network 18 communicates over the cellular network 17. In anembodiment of the invention, communication to/from the cellular network17 is facilitated by the mobile telemetry hardware system 30 and theremote system 44 components.

Computing device 20 and server 19 communicate over the computer network18. The server 19 may include a database and fleet management software10 that runs on a server 19. Clients operating a computing device 20communicate with the application fleet management software 10 running onthe server 19 or computing device 20. Alternatively, access to the fleetmanagement software 10 may be provided through cloud computing. Anexample fleet management software 10 system is the myGEOTAB™ product.

In an embodiment of the invention, data, protocol health data,information, commands, and messages may be sent from the mobiletelemetry hardware system 30 to the cellular network 17, to the network18, and to the server 19. Computing devices 20 may access the data,protocol health data and information on the server 19. Alternatively,data, information, commands, and messages may be sent from the computingdevice 20 or the server 19, to the network 18, to the cellular network17, and to the mobile telemetry hardware system 30.

In another embodiment of the invention, data, protocol health data,information, commands, and messages may be sent from mobile telemetryhardware system to the satellite 13, the ground based station 15, thenetwork 18, and to the server 19. Computing devices 20 may access data,protocol health data and information on the server 19. In anotherembodiment of the invention, data, information, commands, and messagesmay be sent from the server 19, to the network 18, the ground basedstation 15, the satellite 13, and to a mobile telemetry hardware system.

In another embodiment of the invention, data, protocol health data,information, commands, and messages may be exchanged between the mobiletelemetry hardware system 30 and the computing device 20 over asatellite 13 based network or a cellular network 17. Alternatively, thedata, protocol health data, information, commands, and messages may beexchanged between the mobile telemetry hardware system 30 and the server19 over a satellite 13 based network or a cellular network 17.

Mobile Telemetry Hardware System

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, there is illustrated a mobiletelemetry hardware system generally indicated at and a remote systemgenerally indicated at 44. The mobile telemetry hardware system 30 is anexample of a device that communicates or connects with a mobile devicenetwork. An on-board portion generally includes: a DTE (data terminalequipment) telemetry microprocessor 31; a DCE (data communicationsequipment) wireless telemetry communications microprocessor 32; a GPS(global positioning system) module 33; an accelerometer 34; anon-volatile flash memory 35; and provision for an OBD (on boarddiagnostics) interface 36 for connection 43 and communication with avehicle network communications bus 37, or more generally a mobile devicenetwork. The mobile device network in an embodiment of the invention isany form or configuration of a vehicle network. In alternativeembodiments of the invention, the mobile device network is a controllerarea network (CAN).

The resident mobile portion 42 generally includes: the vehicle networkcommunications bus 37 and controller area network (CAN); the ECM(electronic control module) 38; the PCM (power train control module) 40;the ECUs (electronic control units) 41; and other engine control/monitorcomputers and microcontrollers 39.

While the system is described as having an on-board portion 30 and aresident mobile portion 42, it is also understood that the presentinvention could be a complete resident mobile system or a completeon-board system. In addition, in an embodiment of the invention, amobile telemetry system includes a mobile system and a remote system 44.The mobile system is the mobile telemetry hardware system 30. The mobiletelemetry hardware system 30 is the on-board portion and may include theresident mobile portion 42. In further embodiments of the invention theremote system 44 may be one or all of the server 19, computing device20, and fleet management software 10.

In an embodiment of the invention, the DTE telemetry microprocessor 31includes an amount of internal flash memory for storing firmware tooperate and control the overall system 30. In addition, themicroprocessor 31 and firmware log data, format messages, receivemessages, send messages and convert or reformat messages. In anembodiment of the invention, an example of a DTE telemetrymicroprocessor 31 is a PIC24H microcontroller commercially availablefrom Microchip Corporation.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor 31 interconnects with an externalnon-volatile flash memory 35. In an embodiment of the invention, anexample of the flash memory 35 is a 32 MB non-volatile flash memorystore commercially available from Atmel Corporation. The flash memory 35of the present invention is used for data logging, including protocolhealth data. Protocol health data includes at least one of, messagetransmission rate data, maximum message transmission rate data, numberof oscillations data, maximum number of oscillation data and protocolhealth indications.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor 31 interconnects for communication tothe GPS module 33. In an embodiment of the invention, an example of theGPS module 33 is a Neo-5 commercially available from u-blox Corporation.The Neo-5 provides GPS receiver capability and functionality to themobile telemetry hardware system 30. Alternatively, the DTE telemetrymicroprocessor 31 may interconnect for communication with an externalGPS module through an interface (not shown). The GPS module providesposition data and speed data to the DTE telemetry microprocessor 31 andnon-volatile flash memory 35.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor is further interconnected with the OBDinterface 36 for communication with the vehicle network communicationsbus 37. The vehicle network communications bus 37 in turn connects forcommunication with the ECM 38, the engine control/monitor computers andmicrocontrollers 39, the PCM 40, and the ECU 41.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor has the ability through the OBDinterface 36 when connected to the vehicle network communications bus 37to monitor and receive vehicle data and other message and communicationinformation and data from the resident mobile system components forfurther processing.

As a brief non-limiting example of vehicle data and information, thelist may include: vehicle identification number (VIN), current odometerreading, current speed, engine RPM, battery voltage, engine coolanttemperature, engine coolant level, accelerator peddle position, brakepeddle position, various manufacturer specific vehicle DTCs (diagnostictrouble codes), tire pressure, oil level, airbag status, seatbeltindication, emission control data, engine temperature, intake manifoldpressure, transmission data, braking information, and fuel level. It isfurther understood that the amount and type of vehicle data andinformation will change from manufacturer to manufacturer and evolvewith the introduction of additional mobile technology.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor 31 interconnects for communication withthe DCE wireless telemetry communications microprocessor 32. In anembodiment of the invention, an example of the DCE wireless telemetrycommunications microprocessor 32 is a Leon 100 commercially availablefrom u-blox Corporation. The Leon 100 provides mobile communicationscapability and functionality to the mobile telemetry hardware system 30for sending and receiving data to/from a remote system 44.Alternatively, the communication device could be a satellitecommunication device such as an Iridium™ device interconnected forcommunication with the DTE telemetry microprocessor 31. Alternatively,there could be a DCE wireless telemetry communications microprocessor 32and an Iridium™ device for satellite communication. This provides themobile telemetry hardware system 30 with the capability to communicatewith at least one remote system 44.

In embodiments of the invention, a remote system 44 could be anothercomputing device 20 disposed with a vehicle 11 or a base station orother computing device (not shown). The base station may include one ormore servers 19 and one or more computers 20 connected through acomputer network 18 (see FIG. 1). In addition, the base station mayinclude fleet management application software 10 for data acquisition,analysis, and sending/receiving commands or messages to/from the mobiletelemetry hardware system 30.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor 31 interconnects for communication withan accelerometer (34). An accelerometer (34) is a device that measuresthe physical acceleration experienced by an object. Single andmulti-axis models of accelerometers are available to detect themagnitude and direction of the acceleration, or g-force, and the devicemay also be used to sense orientation, coordinate acceleration,vibration, shock, and falling.

In an embodiment of the invention, an example of a multi-axisaccelerometer (34) is the LIS302DL MEMS Motion Sensor commerciallyavailable from STMicroelectronics. The LIS302DL integrated circuit is anultra compact low-power three axes linear accelerometer that includes asensing element and an IC interface able to take the information fromthe sensing element and to provide the measured acceleration data toother devices, such as a DTE Telemetry Microprocessor (31), through anI2C/SPI (Inter-Integrated Circuit) (Serial Peripheral Interface) serialinterface. The LIS302DL integrated circuit has a user-selectablefull-scale range of +−2 g and +−8 g, programmable thresholds, and iscapable of measuring accelerations with an output data rate of 100 Hz or400 Hz.

Alternatively, the mobile device 30 may not include an integral GPSmodule 33 or may not include a DCE wireless telemetry communicationsprocessor 32. With this alternative embodiment of the mobile device 30,an I/O expander (not shown) provides an interface between the DTEtelemetry microprocessor 31 and an external GPS module 33 or a DCEwireless telemetry communications processor 32.

The mobile telemetry hardware system 30 receives data and informationfrom the resident mobile portion 42, the GPS module 33, and theaccelerometer 43. The data and information is stored in non-volatileflash memory 35 as a data log. The data log may be transmitted by themobile telemetry hardware system 30 over the mobile telemetrycommunication system to the server 19 or computing device 20 (see FIG.1). The transmission may be controlled and set by the mobile telemetryhardware system 30 at pre-defined intervals or aperiodic intervals. Thetransmission may also be triggered because of an event such as a harshevent or an accident or a protocol health indication such as a severeprotocol health indication. The transmission may further be requested bya command sent from the application software running on the server 19.

The DTE telemetry microprocessor 31 and non-volatile flash memory 35 area portion of a device apparatus to store and execute the firmware, logic50, 70, 80, 90, 100, associated data and protocol health data for mobiledevice protocol health monitoring (see FIG. 3, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7and FIG. 8). The DCE wireless telemetry communications microprocessor 32provides the communication capability to send logs of monitored data andprotocol health data to a remote system 44.

The remote system 44 components (server 19, computing device 20,microprocessors and memory) provide an apparatus to access the fleetmanagement software 10. The fleet management software 10 stores andexecutes the logic 60 and associated data and protocol health data forthe remote system 44 (see FIG. 4) to assess and provide an indication tothe quality of protocol health.

Mobile Device Protocol Health Monitoring System

The protocol health monitoring system of the present invention isdescribed with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. Protocol health of amobile device relates to the ability to send and receive messagesbetween devices communicating with or connected to the mobile devicenetwork. There is an amount of normal interference with the mobiledevice network that impedes sending and receiving messages. However,when this interference becomes high, or there are other issues such asdevices interfering with the mobile device network or loading the mobiledevice network, or physical line and cable disconnections, communicationof messages on the mobile device network can be intermittent orimpossible.

The protocol health monitoring system receives data and information fromvarious protocol layers including but not limited to J1979, J1939, J1708and J1850. This information is monitored and processed to determine theprotocol health quality of the connection to the mobile device network.There are many consequences when the connection becomes intermittent.For example, when a message is discarded due to an invalidacknowledgement message, the transmitting device will then be forced tore-transmit the discarded message. This increases network traffic at theexpense of other devices attempting to communicate over the network. Anintermittent connection can also prevent a device from detecting whenthe network is active creating a higher probability that an arbitrationalgorithm will be violated. This can cause messages between ECUs 41 tobe lost. If an intermittent connection occurs while a device is sendinga message, other devices may receive an incomplete message and report acommunication error. This communication error may cause other problemssuch as activating a check engine light or reducing engine performance.

Mobile device protocol health monitoring provides the ability to monitora mobile device network, assess the mobile device network, provideprotocol health indications in the form of a log of data and take thenecessary corrective action to prevent a device communicating orconnected to the mobile device network from impeding communication.

The process for mobile device network protocol health monitoring with ahardware device such as a telemetry hardware system 30 is generallyindicated at 50 in FIG. 3. The logic begins with initializing parametersand thresholds. In embodiments of the invention, a maximum messagetransmission rate threshold is established, a lock threshold isestablished, a series of thresholds relating to a series of protocolhealth indications, an oscillating error indictor, oscillatingindicator, a maximum oscillation threshold are initialized and lockaddresses are determined. Initialization may be internal to thetelemetry hardware system 30 or based upon receipt of initializationmessages from the remote system 44.

Protocol health monitoring is accomplished through two differentapproaches to monitoring. A first approach is protocol health messagetransmission rate monitoring. A second approach is protocol health linedisconnect monitoring. A third approach is a combination of the firstand second approach. For the third approach, the protocol health messagetransmission rate monitoring process and the protocol health linedisconnect monitoring process operate cooperatively for exampleconcurrently or in parallel.

The logic selects at least one of protocol health message transmissionrate monitoring or protocol health line disconnect monitoring and thenbegins to monitor messages or errors on the mobile device network. Theresults of monitoring the mobile device network are stored as protocolhealth data points in a protocol health log. In an embodiment of theinvention, the data points in the protocol health log are associatedwith time stamps.

The protocol health data points in the protocol health log provideinformation concerning the protocol health of the mobile device network.In an embodiment of the invention, this information includes at leastone indication such as notify, warning or severe. In another embodimentof the invention, the information includes at least one transmissionrate for each locked address, maximum message transmission rates, numberof oscillations and maximum number of oscillations.

The number of protocol health data points in the protocol health log maybe also reduced by a simplification process. Persons skilled in the artwill appreciate there are a number of different approaches to reduce thenumber of data points representative of message transmission rates suchas the Ramer Douglas Peucker approach, Douglas Peucker approach,iterative end point fit approaches, polyline reductions and split andmerge approaches. In an embodiment of the invention, a Ramer DouglasPeucker approach is applied to reduce the number of transmission ratedata points. For an embodiment of the invention, the allowable error is20% of the maximum transmission rate threshold. A specific data point islogged when the predicted value and the actual value differ by 20%.

The protocol health log is communicated to a remote system 44 and may bebased upon periods or time, triggers, for example a severe indication,or aperiodic periods of time or requests from the remote system 44.Communication of the protocol health log continues over time sendingmultiple logs to a remote system 44 over the course of a mobile device11 journey.

Additionally, the mobile device protocol health monitoring system maytake corrective action dependent upon the quality of the protocolhealth. A first corrective action places a device communicating orconnected to the mobile device network into a safe mode. A secondcorrective action electronically disconnects the device from the mobiledevice network. A third corrective action provides a signal to anoperator to physically disconnect the device from the mobile devicenetwork. This signal may be a visual indication on a display or an audioindication. This signal may be presented to a person or operator of amobile device 11. This signal may also be presented to a person oroperator remotely monitoring the mobile device 11.

Mobile device network protocol health monitoring continues with receiptof the protocol health log at the remote system 44. This is generallyindicated at 60 in FIG. 4. The data points associated with a singleprotocol health log or a sequence of protocol health logs can beassessed and analyzed to display aspects of protocol health. Inembodiments of the invention, this may occur on at least one ofserver(s) 19, computing device(s) 20 or fleet management software 10.Receipt of a current protocol health log provides an instantaneousindicator to the mobile device network protocol health and may includeprotocol health indications indications (notify, warning, severe) oralternatively protocol health data (message transmission rate data,maximum message transmission rate data, number of oscillations data andmaximum number of oscillations data). A severe indication canimmediately trigger and send a notification to an operator.Alternatively, protocol health can also be associated with logs of othervehicle data for cause analysis.

Multiple protocol health logs over time reveal trends relating to thequality of protocol heath or multiple journeys of the mobile device 11.Trends include increasing protocol health, decreasing protocol health,acceptable levels of protocol health, unacceptable levels of protocolhealth. Alternatively, protocol health can be associated with particularmakes or models or particular years of mobile devices 11 as well asparticular options associated with a mobile device 11 to determine oridentify particular equipment or options potentially causing poor orunacceptable protocol health.

Protocol Health Message Transmission Rate Monitoring

Protocol health message transmission rate monitoring of the presentinvention is described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.Initialization is generally indicated at 70 in FIG. 5 and monitoring ingenerally indicated at 80 in FIG. 6.

Initialization of the protocol health message transmission ratemonitoring process has a general initialization process and a messagetransmission rate threshold determination process. The generalinitialization process has two parts that are not order or sequencedependent. The first part is to determine all the vehicle protocolsavailable to the controller area network and select an initial addressto monitor for each of the available vehicle protocols. In an embodimentof the invention, the initial address is the lowest available address.This accommodates mobile device networks that utilize an arbitrationprocess where the lowest address typically has the highest priority.This provides the most reliable address for monitoring and determiningprotocol health. Examples include the data layer found in the SAEspecifications of J1979, J1939, J1708 and J1850. In an embodiment of theinvention, the logic of the first part is performed by the device(telemetry hardware system 30) associated with the mobile device 11.Alternatively, the logic may be performed by a remote site 44 andcommunicated as a message to the device associated with the mobiledevice 11. Selecting the initial address to monitor for each protocol isbased upon an address that will have a relatively high number ofcommunication messages during activation and operation of the mobiledevice network. This varies to some degree between vehicle protocols.

Initialization also involves setting or establishing a number ofdifferent threshold parameters. There is at least one thresholdassociated with at least one protocol health indication. In anembodiment of the invention, a first threshold is associated with afirst protocol health indication. The first threshold is between 51% and60% of a maximum transmission rate threshold for the first protocolhealth indication of notify. In an embodiment of the invention, a secondthreshold is associated with a second protocol health indication. Thesecond threshold is between 40% and 50% of a maximum transmission ratethreshold for the second protocol health indication of warning. In anembodiment of the invention, a third threshold is associated with athird protocol health indication. The third threshold is less than 40%of a maximum transmission rate threshold for a third protocol healthindication of severe.

Initialization also involves setting or establishing a severe indicationthreshold or limit. In an embodiment of the invention, the severeindication threshold is 50 occurrences of a severe protocol healthindication.

Initialization also involves setting or establishing at least one lockthreshold. In an embodiment of the invention, a lock threshold for aslow mobile device network protocol is 10 messages per second. In anembodiment of the invention, a second lock threshold for a fast mobiledevice network protocol is 50 messages per second. An example slowmobile device network protocol is protocols that are less than 100 kbps(kilobits per second) and an example fast mobile device network protocolis protocols that are faster than 100 kbps.

The second part of the general initialization process includes anactivation window that waits for the mobile device network to stabilizeafter activation. In an embodiment of the invention, this time delay is30 seconds.

Once the general initialization process is complete, the messagetransmission rate threshold determination process begins. The datatransmission rate associated with an address to monitor is monitored todetermine a count of messages for a defined period of time. In anembodiment of the invention, this defined period of time is 1 second andthe first or initial address is the lowest address. Alternatively, thefirst or initial address in an address with the highest priority. Thecount of messages is compared with a lock threshold. If the count ofmessages is less than the lock threshold, then another address tomonitor is selected and the message transmission rate thresholddetermination process repeats with another address (incremented insequence from the initial address) to monitor. This process repeats forall initial addresses and selected additional addresses for each vehicleprotocol. When the count of messages is greater than the lock threshold,then the lock address is established and the count of messagesassociated with this lock address establishes the maximum transmissionrate threshold messages over time. At completion of the messagetransmission rate threshold determination process, at least one lockaddress and at least one maximum transmission rate threshold value hasbeen determined and saved for each vehicle protocol.

Once initialization is complete, the protocol health messagetransmission rate monitoring process may begin. Optionally, the processmay need to wait for the controller area network to stabilize afteractivation, for example, when the vehicle ignition is activated. This isan activation window. In an embodiment of the invention, the wait timeis 35 seconds.

Next, a lock address to monitor is selected and the transmission rate ofmessages corresponding to the selected lock address is monitored over aperiod of time. In an embodiment of the invention, the period of time is1 second. This determines a count of messages per second for theselected lock address.

The monitored transmission rate of messages is then compared to themaximum transmission rate threshold associated with the lock address. Ifthe transmission rate of messages reaches a range when compared to themaximum transmission rate threshold, then a condition is logged and theprocess repeats by continuing to monitor the transmission rate for theselected lock address. This process also repeats for each lock addressselected to monitor and may run cooperatively for multiple lockaddresses.

In an embodiment of the invention, there are three ranges oftransmission rates and three different types of protocol healthindications that may be logged as they relate to mobile device networkprotocol health. For each occurrence when the monitored transmissionrate is between 51% and 60% of the maximum transmission rate threshold,then a notify indication is logged as a first indication of protocolhealth. For each occurrence when the monitored transmission rate isbetween 40% and 50% of the maximum transmission rate threshold, then awarning indication is logged as a second indication of protocol health.For each occurrence when the monitored transmission rate is less than40% of the maximum transmission rate threshold, then a severe indicationis logged as an third indication of protocol health.

In addition to providing a log of protocol health indicationsrepresentative of protocol health, the severe indication may be furthermonitored and assessed. Each occurrence of a severe indication iscounted as a running log of severe indications. If the running log ofsevere indications is less than a severe indication threshold, then theprocess continues to monitor transmission rates. If the running log ofsevere indications is greater than or equal to the severe indicationthreshold, then the device communicating or connected to the mobiledevice network is disconnected. Disconnecting the device communicatingor connected to the mobile device network may be an electronicdisconnect or a physical disconnect. Disconnecting a device is a firsttype of corrective action. This first type of corrective action iscommunicated to the remote site 44. In an embodiment of the invention,the severe indication threshold is 50 occurrences.

Upon deactivation of a mobile device 11, for example with a shut down orignition off in the case of a vehicle, there is a deactivation window.This deactivation window is similar to the activation window, exceptthat it exists at the end of the mobile device 11 journey. In anembodiment of the invention, the deactivation window is 35 seconds. Thisdeactivation window period of time is excluded from being marked as aprotocol health indication (notification, warning or severe), but isstill included in the simplification process.

Protocol Health Line Disconnect Monitoring

Protocol health line disconnect monitoring of the present invention isdescribed with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. A first line disconnectmonitoring process is generally indicated at 90 in FIG. 7 and a secondline disconnect monitoring process is generally indicated at 100 in FIG.8. The first and second processes operate cooperatively, for exampleconcurrently or in parallel.

Oscillation in the present invention is a condition wherein a mobiledevice network error indicator oscillates up and down constantly.Normally, the mobile device network error indicator decreases every timea message is received. This is accomplished automatically by amicrocontroller. During oscillation, the mobile device network errorindicator oscillates between a maximum value and one less than a maximumvalue without receiving a message. In an embodiment of the inventionthis is between a maximum of 128 and 127 receive errors. Thisoscillation condition is indicative or a mobile device network error orline disconnect.

The first process may optionally need to initialize an error indicatorto zero. Then, the first process monitors the mobile device networkcommunication to detect if mobile device network messages are received.If mobile device network messages are not received, the mobile devicenetwork is monitored for messages. If a mobile device network message isreceived, then the oscillating error indicator is reset to zero.

The second process may also optionally require initialization toinitialize the maximum oscillation threshold and to reset theoscillating error indicator. In an embodiment of the invention, themaximum error threshold is set to 128 receive errors, the maximumoscillation threshold is set to 10 occurrences of osculation. In anembodiment of the invention, the oscillating error indicator is a Rxerror counter in a controller area network (CAN) controllermicroprocessor.

The second process monitors the mobile device network for communicationreceive errors. If the number of communication receive errors are not atthe maximum error threshold, then monitoring of the mobile devicenetwork continues. If the number of communication receive errors reachthe maximum error threshold, then increment an oscillating errorindicator and continue with monitoring the mobile device network forcommunication errors. If the number of communication receive errorsoscillates below the maximum error threshold, then increment theoscillating error indicator. If the oscillating error indicator is belowthe maximum oscillation threshold, then continue back to the firstmonitoring of the mobile device network for communication receiveerrors. If the oscillating error indicator has reached the maximumoscillation threshold, then provide corrective action and terminate theprotocol health line disconnect monitoring process. In an embodiment ofthe invention the corrective action is a third corrective action thatplaces the device communication or connected to the controller areanetwork into a safe mode for monitoring.

Technical Effects

Embodiments of the present invention provide one or more technicaleffects. More specifically, an ability to determine the protocol healthof a mobile device network. The protocol health of the mobile devicenetwork may be determined by a message transmission rate monitoringapparatus and process. The protocol health of the mobile network mayalso be determined by a line disconnect monitoring apparatus andprocess. Another ability is to determine a range of protocol health suchas notify, warning and severe. Another ability is to communicate themobile device network protocol heath to a remote system. The ability totake a first corrective action in the case of a severe protocol health.The first corrective action may be to electronically or physicallydisconnect a device communicating or connected to a mobile devicenetwork. A second corrective action may also be to place the devicecommunicating or connected to a controller area network into a safemode. Another ability is to assess and display the mobile device networkprotocol heath at a remote site 44 or a remote device. An ability toprovide an alert to a remote site 44 or operator of a mobile device 11for an indication of a severe protocol health. The alert to an operatorprompts the operator to physically disconnect or uninstall the devicecommunicating or connected to the mobile device network.

The description of present invention is with respect to the disclosednon-limiting embodiments and persons skilled in the art understand thatthe invention is not limited to the disclosed non-limiting embodiments.Persons skilled in the art further understand that the disclosedinvention intends to cover various modifications and equivalentarrangements included within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, thepresent invention is not limited by any of the described non-limitingembodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: monitoring protocol healthin a mobile device network, the protocol health indicating an ability ofdevices to communicate via the mobile device network and/or a level ofinterference in the mobile device network, the monitoring comprisingmonitoring a message transmission rate in the mobile device network,wherein monitoring the message transmission rate comprises: determininga message transmission rate threshold for the mobile device network,wherein determining the message transmission rate threshold comprises:iteratively selecting devices in the mobile device network andmonitoring each selected device until a device is identified that iscommunicating via the mobile device network at more than a thresholdrate, in response to identifying a device communicating at more than thethreshold rate, setting the identified device as a monitored device andsetting a transmission rate of the monitored device as the messagetransmission rate threshold; wherein: monitoring the protocol health inthe mobile device network comprises monitoring a protocol health foreach of a plurality of protocols: determining the message transmissionrate threshold comprises determining a message transmission ratethreshold for each of the plurality of protocols: and determining themessage transmission rate threshold for each of the plurality ofprotocols comprises repeating, for each protocol, the iterativelyselecting devices, the monitoring each selected device, the setting theidentified device as the monitored device, and the setting thetransmission rate of the monitored device as the message transmissionrate threshold, to determine a monitored device and a messagetransmission rate threshold for each protocol.
 2. A method as in claim 1further comprising: in response to determining that the protocol healthof a first protocol of the plurality of protocols at a time satisfiesone or more criteria associated with unacceptable protocol health,providing an indication of unacceptable protocol health of the firstprotocol and triggering performance of at least one corrective actionregarding at least one device communicating with said mobile devicenetwork.
 3. A method as in claim 2 wherein said triggering performanceof the at least one corrective action comprises precluding one or moreof said at least one device from communicating via said mobile devicenetwork and/or triggering one or more of said at least one device toenter a safe mode.
 4. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:communicating a protocol health log to a remote system, wherein saidremote system is configured to, in response to receiving said protocolhealth log, generate an indication of the protocol health of a firstprotocol of the plurality of protocols in the mobile device network. 5.A method as in claim 4 further comprising: generating, with said remotesystem, the indication of the protocol health of the first protocol,wherein generating said indication of said protocol health of the firstprotocol comprises generating an indicator including at least oneprotocol health indication from a group consisting of a good protocolhealth, a poor protocol health, a better protocol health, an increasingprotocol health, a decreasing protocol health, an acceptable protocolhealth, an unacceptable protocol health, or a severe protocol health. 6.A method as in claim 1 wherein determining the message transmission ratethreshold of a first protocol of the plurality of protocols comprisesdetermining the message transmission rate threshold of the firstprotocol after a period of time following a start of exchange ofcommunications via said mobile device network.
 7. A method as in claim 1further comprising: determining a threshold rate, for use in selecting amonitored device, for each protocol.
 8. A method as in claim 7, whereindetermining the threshold rate for each protocol comprises selecting,for each protocol and based on the protocol, between a first thresholdrate or a second threshold rate, the first threshold rate being fasterthan the second threshold rate.
 9. A method as in claim 1 whereinmonitoring said message transmission rate comprises, following settingof the message transmission rate threshold of a first protocol of theplurality of protocols: monitoring a message transmission rate of themonitored device for the first protocol on said mobile device network,comparing a range of said message transmission rate to the messagetransmission rate threshold of the first protocol of the plurality ofprotocols, and logging a protocol health indication of the firstprotocol based on a result of the comparing.
 10. A method as in claim 9wherein logging the protocol health indication of the first protocolcomprises, when a result of the comparing indicates said range is abovea first threshold, indicating that a notification should be sentregarding the protocol health of the first protocol.
 11. A method as inclaim 10 wherein said first threshold is between 51% and 60% of saidtransmission rate threshold of the first protocol.
 12. A method as inclaim 9 wherein logging the protocol health indication of the firstprotocol comprises, when a result of the comparing indicates said rangeis below the first threshold and above a second threshold, indicatingthat a warning should be sent regarding the protocol health of the firstprotocol.
 13. A method as in claim 12 wherein said second threshold isbetween 40% and 50% of said transmission rate threshold of the firstprotocol.
 14. A method as in claim 12 wherein logging the protocolhealth indication of the first protocol comprises, when a result of thecomparing indicates said range is below a third threshold, indicatingthat a notification of severe protocol health of the first protocolshould be sent.
 15. A method of monitoring protocol health in a mobiledevice network as in claim 14 wherein said third threshold is less than40% of said transmission rate threshold of the first protocol.
 16. Amethod as in claim 14 further comprising, in response to determiningthat a repeated result of the comparing over time indicates said rangeis repeatedly below the third threshold, triggering performance of acorrective action regarding at least one device communicating with themobile device network.
 17. A method as in claim 16 wherein determiningthat a repeated result of the comparing over time indicates said rangeis repeatedly below the third threshold comprises determining that aresult of the comparing has determined that the range is below the thirdthreshold greater than 50 times.
 18. A method as in claim 16 whereintriggering performance of said corrective action comprises triggeringdisconnection of a device.
 19. A method as in claim 1 furthercomprising: monitoring communication errors in the mobile device networkover time, wherein monitoring the communication errors comprisesmonitoring for oscillation in occurrence of errors in the mobile devicenetwork.
 20. A method as in claim 19 wherein monitoring for oscillationcomprises: incrementing an oscillating error indicator in response todetecting that a number of communication errors in the mobile devicenetwork oscillates with respect to an error threshold.
 21. A method asin claim 20 wherein monitoring communication errors further comprises,in response to determining that the oscillating error indicator hasreached an oscillation threshold, triggering performance of at least onecorrective action.
 22. A method as in claim 21 wherein triggeringperformance of at least one corrective action comprises setting one ormore devices to a communication safe mode.
 23. A method as in claim 21wherein said oscillation threshold is
 10. 24. A method as in claim 20wherein said error threshold is
 128. 25. A method as in claim 1, whereinmonitoring the protocol health further comprises: comparing, over time,a message transmission rate of the monitored device to the messagetransmission rate threshold of a first protocol of the plurality ofprotocols; and maintaining a protocol health log indicating results ofthe comparing over time.
 26. A method as in claim 1 wherein iterativelyselecting devices comprises initially selecting a selected addressassociated with a high priority.
 27. A method as claim 25 wherein saidprotocol health log includes protocol health indications.
 28. A methodas in claim 27 wherein said protocol health log includes protocol healthdata.
 29. A method as in claim 28 wherein said protocol health logincludes at least one of message transmission rate data, maximumtransmission rate data, number of oscillations or maximum number ofoscillations.
 30. A method comprising: monitoring protocol health in amobile device network for each of a plurality of protocols, the protocolhealth of a protocol indicating an ability of devices to communicate viathe mobile device network and/or a level of interference in the mobiledevice network, the monitoring comprising monitoring a messagetransmission rate in the mobile device network for each protocol of theplurality of protocols, wherein monitoring the message transmission ratecomprises, for each protocol of the plurality of protocols: selecting amonitored device for the protocol and setting the message transmissionrate of the monitored device as a message transmission rate thresholdfor the protocol, wherein the selecting and setting comprises repeatingacts of monitoring a message transmission rate associated with aselected address, and, in response to determining that the messagetransmission rate is below a threshold rate, selecting another address,until the message transmission rate associated with the selected addressis determined to be above the threshold rate, setting a deviceassociated with the selected address as the monitored device for theprotocol, and setting the message transmission rate associated with saidselected address as the message transmission rate threshold for theprotocol; comparing a range of said message transmission rate for themonitored device for the protocol to the message transmission ratethreshold for the protocol; and logging a protocol health conditionbased on a result of the comparing of said message transmission ratethreshold to said range for the protocol.
 31. A method as in claim 30wherein logging the protocol health condition for a first protocol ofthe plurality of protocols comprises, when said range for the messagetransmission rate for the monitored device for the first protocol isabove a first threshold, logging that a notification should be sentregarding the protocol health of the first protocol.
 32. A method as inclaim 31 wherein said first threshold is between 51% and 60% of saidmessage transmission rate threshold for the first protocol.
 33. A methodas in claim 31 wherein logging the protocol health condition for thefirst protocol comprises, when said range is below the first thresholdand above a second threshold, logging that a warning should be sentregarding the protocol health of the first protocol.
 34. A method as inclaim 33 wherein said second threshold is between 40% and 50% of saidmessage transmission rate threshold for the first protocol.
 35. A methodas in claim 33 wherein logging the protocol health condition for thefirst protocol comprises, when said range is below a third threshold,logging that a notification of severe protocol health of the firstprotocol should be sent.
 36. A method as in claim 35 wherein said thirdthreshold is less than 40% of said message transmission rate thresholdfor the first protocol.
 37. A method as in 35 further comprising, inresponse to determining that a severe protocol health condition is met,triggering performance of at least one corrective action.
 38. A methodas in claim 37 wherein determining that the severe protocol healthcondition is met comprises determining that the range has beendetermining to be below the third threshold more than a number of times.39. A method as in claim 30 wherein setting the message transmissionrate threshold of a first protocol of the plurality of protocolscomprises setting the message transmission rate threshold of the firstprotocol after a period of time following a start of exchange ofcommunications via the mobile device network.
 40. A method as in claim30 further comprising: determining a threshold rate, for use inselecting a monitored device, for each protocol.
 41. A method as inclaim 40 wherein determining the threshold rate for each protocolcomprises selecting, for each protocol and based on the protocol,between a first threshold rate or a second threshold rate, the firstthreshold rate being faster than the second threshold rate.
 42. A methodas in claim 30 wherein repeating the acts of monitoring and selectingcomprises initially selecting an address associated with a highpriority.